This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Charges were dropped Friday against five Grenadian police officers accused of manslaughter in the high-profile beating death of a Canadian visitor when a court ruled there should be a coroner’s inquest before any criminal case can proceed.

The officers, who were suspended with half pay after the December 2011 incident, will return to work with the Royal Grenada Police Force and be reimbursed for their lost salaries, said Anselm Clouden, a lawyer for one of them.

Toronto resident Oscar Bartholomew died after he was allegedly beaten into a coma by Grenadian police.

“They are no longer charged with anything until the coroner can inquire into the proper cause of death,” he said from his office in St. George, Grenada’s capital.

Oscar Bartholomew, 39, was allegedly beaten into a fatal coma by the five officers after he hugged a female plainclothes officer he’d mistaken for a friend, his relatives said. The Toronto resident was in his native country to visit family for Christmas.

According to Grenadian media reports, the officer yelled “rape” when she was hugged by Bartholomew, and the other officers jumped him. He died 24 hours later in a prison cell, the Star reported.

Article Continued Below

On Friday, the High Court accepted the defence’s argument the coroner was legally bound to hold an inquest before a trial could proceed, because Bartholomew died in a public building, said Clouden.

“That is unbelievable, absolutely disgusting,” said Liz Brown, a friend of Bartholomew’s for the last three years of his life. “His parents must be just reeling.”

Derick Sylvester, the lawyer representing Bartholomew’s family, called the development a “short-term victory” for the accused officers, arguing that a five-member jury at a coroner’s inquest could ultimately recommend more serious charges than manslaughter.

“With the level of publicity that this case had, in a country of 110,000, it’s not looking good for them,” said Sylvester. “The evidence is so damning.”

Sylvester also said he believes the court’s decision sets a “dangerous precedent,” by allowing the Coroner’s Act — which mandates an inquiry for all deaths that occur in a public building, like a prison — to supersede the authority of the district prosecutor, who laid the charges in Bartholomew’s case.

“They have opened up a legal can of worms that will have to be taken care of,” said Sylvester.

More from The Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com